𝐲𝐤𝐰𝐢𝐦 | kang sae-byeok

00

episode zero
prologue

the carnival-like music could be faintly heard from the side of the building.

y/n was currently trimming a young lady's hair. the lady looked like she had been fighting a cat before she came here, but all she wanted was just a trim.

"there you go. all done!" y/n cheered happily as she took her hands off the lady's hair. the lady thanked her, payed, and then left the store.

"slow day today, huh?" a raspy voice could be heard coming from the other room. y/n sighed and responded sarcastically, "yep. i guess people don't really like stores that smell like drugs."

her uncle chuckled a little before walking close enough to her and saying, "you know, i do need you do run some errands to me. is that all right?" "oh, of course! i have nothing on my schedule right now." y/n responded with a smile on her face as usual.

her uncle smiled at her response and said, "well, alright then. i was hoping you would go buy some groceries and then go get my mail. that's really it." he handed the cheerful girl in front of him a list full of items. "here's the list of the things you need to buy." he told her.

"alright! i'll do that right now!" y/n quickly went to her room, grabbed her purse , put on her shoes, came back downstairs, and got out of the door with a quick "goodbye!"

after spending almost an hour at the groceries, y/n sat down and answered a text from her uncle. before she was about to press the send button, though, she heard someone sit down next to her.

she turned her head and saw a man who looked to be a business man. the man was creepily staring at her before y/n said, "uhh... hi!"

the girl waved at the unknown man. the man then smiled brighter and asked, "hello there. is it alright if you play a game with me?"

"uhh, sure, i'd like to play a game." y/n answered. the business man opened up his suitcase and revealed to folded up papers, one red and one blue, and load of money.

"here are the rules: play ddakji with me, and if you win, you win all of this money. if i loose, you pay me the same amount."

y/n didn't hesitate to say yes. she needed the money. the man then asked her to pick a color, in which she chose blue.

the first round began as y/n got ready to go first. she threw threw the blue paper tile, but sadly, didn't make the red tile flip.

it was now the man's turn. he threw his paper tile and flipped the blue paper tile. "shit." y/n mumbled as she watched the man smile as he turned to her.

"what was going to happen if i loose?" the girl asked. "you pay me the same amount back." the business man answered.

"look, i-i don't really have the mon-" y/n got interrupted as the business man slapped her hard in the face.

she slowly turned her head back at the man with a shocked face. "what the fu-" "if you can't pay me back, you can repay me with your body." the man said.

y/n still had a shocked face. "y-you mean by slapping me-" she asked. "yes." the man nodded.

y/n quickly regained her stance and smiled once again. "alright!"

it took y/n at least twenty five tries before she won. she had to endure twenty five slaps from a random business man.

when she won, all she did was just stare at the two paper tiles, while the business man just clapped.

"congratulations. here is your money." the man gave the packets of money to y/n. the girl turned to take the money quickly and smiled.

"you know, there are plenty of games like this that can give you more money than this." the man said before handing the happy girl a card.

y/n looked at the card suspiciously, before turning to the business man to ask him a question. when she turned her head though, the business man was nowhere to be found.

"y/n, darling please tell me where you got all of this money from." the girl's uncle worriedly pleaded. "stop worrying so much."

"you take extremely long to go to the groceries and get the mail, and then you come in with a beaten face and a shit load of money. how the hell am i supposed to not worry?"

"look, it's fine, i'm fine. i'm just gonna go to bed. goodnight." "but, y/n-" the girl interrupted her uncle by closing the door to her room on him.

y/n looked at the number in the card in her hands. she took her phone and dialed the number.

"hello. who is this?"

"uhm, hello? i got a card-"

"do you want to play the game?"

"i mean- sure."

"name?"

"l/n y/n"

"come to xxx-xxx at twelve am tonight. the password is green light, red light."

the person on the other side of the line hung up. y/n looked at her phone curiously.

she was at the meeting spot at eleven, almost practically sweating since she was scared to get caught out of her home by her uncle this late.

at exactly twelve, a van rode up in front of her. the driver rolled down the window and asked, "l/n y/n?" "uh, yes-" "password?" "green light, red light." the girl answers before being aloud to get inside the car.

as soon as she entered, she saw other people unconscious. "damn, is it really that comfortable here?" she asked herself before falling unconscious as well by smoke coming from the sides of the van.

oh god y/n. what have you gotten yourself into?